A very important part of this nutritious breakfast

I read blogs daily, and bookmark a lot of links for you guys, but don’t always manage to write about everything. So this week I’m going to try a little links roundup… in case you missed it.

First up, Fatly Yours, about the idea that size-acceptance blogs are just “fat people sitting around making excuses”:

I won’t say that ALL fat people in ALL cases are healthy. I won’t say that NO ONE can EVER benefit from losing weight. I won’t say that NO ONE can EVER succeed with their diet goals. The truth is always more complex than that. It doesn’t benefit anyone to make generalizations. This also means that your generalizations won’t convince or silence me.

The old cliché that fat people make excuses and justify their actions is very untrue. Everyone who gains weight or thinks they’re “fat” will first and foremost blame themselves, not other people or society. We’ve been socially conditioned to believe that fat is our own fault, and since there are no socially acceptable excuses, there’s really not much you can do there… The truth is, fat people are expected to say this: I AM FAT BECAUSE I AM LAZY AND GREEDY. I NEVER EXERCISE, AND I EAT TOO MUCH BAD FOOD. I SIMPLY HAVE NO WILLPOWER. PLEASE FORGIVE ME. If you say anything else, you’re just making excuses.

Next we have The Rotund on fat characters (or the lack thereof) in science fiction:

If writers were writing in a vacuum, in a world where fat was a totally neutral feature, an individual writer’s choice to write only thin characters wouldn’t rate much attention. Because other writers would be writing fat characters. And characters of all shapes and sizes.

But, since writers do not produce fiction in a vacuum, I think it is reasonable to assume they are writing thin characters for the same reason trolls come here and leave boring, trollish comments: They think fat people aren’t worth the space they take up. Thin people are the people with interesting stories. Thin people are the people that we want to be when we read.

You don’t have to use your fiction to tell fat jokes to reinforce that thin people are the only ones people care about. You just have to only ever write about thin people, as though thin people are the only normal people. Fat people, in fiction, are reserved to prove a point - generally a bad one.

Ottermatic and Rachel both wrote about my beloved Project Runway.

Korto is my clear early favorite: “She is inspired by rich fabrics and textures and says her designs are intended for real, full-figured women.” Heck yeah! She also appears to be the fattest designer ever on the show. And she has fantastic hair. And if my eyes and memory do not deceive me, this is the first season that Bravo has featured two black women in the competition.

The carrot dangling before contestants on Project Runway is the opportunity and financial means to create their own fashion line. If we go by current estimates, some 60 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, according to continuously shifting government guidelines. Wouldn’t then the designer who designs clothes for a larger subset of the demographic thus have the best chance of success with their line? Here’s hoping Korto goes far in the competition. There are three billion women who could use some fashionable clothes.

Kate Harding writes about one of my guilty pleasures, the reality show Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods, and solves a mystery that I too had been wondering about.

If you watch the trailer for LBTM:TSFEW, henceforth to be known as LB, you will see a shot of the girls sitting around in their fairy princess loft, and one of them saying, “We all think you need to lose weight.” DRAMAZ! Ever since I saw that clip, I’ve been waiting to see it in context on the actual show, so I could blog about how fucking INSANE and sad and infuriating that statement was, given that all of these girls pretty much have to step twice to cast a shadow. They’re the finalists auditioning for the lead in a Broadway musical that’s not Hairspray — it ain’t exactly the Chub Club in that sparkly pink loft…

[Cast member Lauren explains in her blog]: I wasn’t saying that to anyone but myself… I was in the middle of a huge rant on why I refused to answer these questions… Sounded something like “I refuse to sit here and have you all tell me ‘We all think you need to lose weight.” Honestly, HOW STUPID is it to do this on a show directed towards young girls and teenagers. How is some 14 year old girl going to feel when she thinks she needs to throw up her food to be on Broadway? It was a repulsive idea, and I was broken hearted over it.

[R]ock the hell on, Lauren. Sorry I doubted you.

And finally, the amazing Mimi Smartypants goes back to her lose-ten-pounds doctor (I have never forgotten that story) and, well…

At height/weight check it was found that I weigh exactly the same as I did last year, which I frankly considered a victory of sorts. Because hey, I am getting old and I eat a lot of pizza. This is why I was surprised when the doctor pulled out her stupid cardboard wheel and announced that while my weight was still WITHIN THE “NORMAL” RANGE, fifteen pounds lighter would be “more ideal.”

ME: Really? Because last year I weighed the same, and you told me to lose ten pounds. Not fifteen.
DOCTOR [stammering, consulting her doohickey again]: Well, ten, fifteen, somewhere in there…
ME: Yeah. Anyway.
DOCTOR: Your weight is still in the normal range, it’s just thought that a healthier weight would be more like…
ME [interrupting]: I’ve got my eye on you. I had better not come in next time and hear that it would be awesome if I weighed eighty-five pounds.

Happy Friday!

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Advocacy, Books, Fashion, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Links, Meta, Project Runway, Race & Ethnicity, TV